


Our Kind Of Love

by easypename



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, M/M, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-26
Updated: 2015-02-26
Packaged: 2018-03-15 07:51:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3439364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/easypename/pseuds/easypename
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Earl Harlan always have had a crush on Cecil. He never imagined that anything good might come of it, until he realized Cecil might be feeling the same way. And that's how their love begins, as love typically does, and warps as they grow closer and apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our Kind Of Love

**Author's Note:**

> I had this work posted here before, but I took it down because I abandoned it. Then I thought, well, that's no reason to delete my work. So I found this, after a year of writing it, deep inside my writing folder. 
> 
> It ends abruptly--because I never got around to actually writing that part. 
> 
> (but maybe I'll continue it one day, who knows?)

* * *

 

At first it was an innocent, summer-days kind of love.

Of course, every day was hot and dry in Night Vale. The seasons were indistinguishable from one another, and this was during the years when calendars were declared hazardous and were burned in the middle of the town. So it was technically illegal to know what month of the year it was.

Earl Harlan had just finished cleaning his badges that he earned from the Blood Pact Scout induction ceremony when he saw Cecil walk by.

“Cecil,” Earl called out with perhaps with too much enthusiasm. The other boy continued walking. “Cecil!” Earl called out louder and ran up to him. Once he was there, Earl wasn’t sure whether he should just walk alongside or poke his arm or maybe casually sling his arm over—

“Oh hey, Earl.” Cecil turned around and gave him a light punch on the arm. “Didn’t see you for a while. Thought something happened.”

Earl laughed nervously. “Yeah. No. I mean, I don’t know how long I was away for the Blood Pact Scouts ceremony. It was confusing. Everything was very confusing.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re finally back,” Cecil smiled. It was enough to make Earl feel all sorts of confused again. Except it was a good kind of confused, although Earl was still pretty confused as to what that meant.

“How have you been, Cecil?”

“Oh, you know. Earning badges here and there. Oh! I also started practicing being a radio host, because you know, the tablets down at City Hall say I’ll be one. I’m gonna replace Leonard Burton one day!”

“You’ll do such a wonderful job. I love listening to you and I’m sure the rest of Night Vale will too,” Earl said quietly. Quietly, compared to Cecil. Everything he said always sounded so confident, while Earl felt like he constantly fumbled along his words.

Cecil put his arm around Earl’s shoulders, making Earl's face warm. He hoped that Cecil didn’t notice. And if he did, he didn’t say anything about it. Instead, Cecil just looked at him for a moment then said, “You should come listen to my cassettes sometime.”

Sometime turned out to be later that day, as Earl walked home with Cecil.

A sudden disruption on the road had occurred and residents were told to run, as fast as they can, _run_ to the nearest residence and stay there until the road stopped dissolving cars and oozing a mysterious dark liquid. As it happened, Earl was just about to say good bye to Cecil.

Instead, they ended up locked inside Cecil’s empty house. Earl considered asking him where his family was, but for some reason that didn’t seem like a great idea. He also didn’t question the way Cecil gripped Earl’s hand a little too tight while rushing him along to his room, past the hall with a full-length mirror.

Once in Cecil’s room, they both relaxed a bit, not because they were safe, since nobody is ever safe, but because being alone together without any distractions made Earl feel like all pretenses and stupid crush-logics wasn’t relevant here. He was with Cecil and they were friends and that was all Earl needed. Maybe not all he wanted, but it was enough.

They sat down on the floor, leaning against Cecil’s bed, listening to his tapes. Sometimes the taped Cecil talked and sometimes Cecil would try to explain what he said in the tapes or talk about something that happened earlier in the week or whisper stuff they shouldn’t be whispering about into Earl’s ear. And as time went on Earl felt more encouraged to reply. But he still didn’t do much of the talking. That was something Cecil was good at. Earl liked listening and watching the emotions across Cecil’s face liven up his stories and give appropriate reactions.

Perhaps an hour passed, or perhaps it was already deep into the night. It was dim in the room but Earl wasn’t sure if that was just an effect of the road-disruption of if the sun had set already. He didn’t pay it too much attention. He was still staring at Cecil talk.

Oh. Wait, no. Cecil wasn’t talking.

When had he stopped? Earl suddenly felt guilty for his thoughts drifting. Cecil was just staring at Earl now. Was he disappointed?

Earl decided to apologize when Cecil spoke up. “Earl, am I your best friend?”

Of course he was. But Earl didn’t answer. Although they’ve known each other for a very long time, Earl probably wasn’t Cecil’s first choice to hang out with. They used to a lot more when they were younger, but Earl had noticed a sharp decline lately. Probably because Cecil was just amazing and everybody wanted to talk to him. He could have his pick of the whole school.

“Earl?” Cecil prompted, then continued. “Fine. It’s okay. I get it. I don’t really do the whole Boy Scouts thing anymore and I guess I’m not too interesting anyways. I just thought even though we don’t really see each other as often, we would stay best friends… But I understand.”

“No,” Earl’s voice so embarrassingly croaked. “I think we’re still friends. And you’re the most interesting person I know. You are. You are my best friend.”

Although he didn’t smile, Earl noticed that Cecil’s face lighted up. Encouraged, Earl kept speaking. “I just… I really like listening to you talk. And I like how well you describe things… and… I like how great a person you are. And I can’t imagine ever not being friends with you. You’ll always be my best friend. And maybe don’t like me as much but I guess that’s fine—”

“Why wouldn’t I like you as much? You’re my best friend.”

“Yeah… yeah. I mean, I just think… Actually, nevermind.”

“What is it?” Cecil scooted closer trying to meet Earl’s eyes and Earl tried his best to keep his head down.

“Nothing.”

“Earl, do you like me?”

Earl didn’t answer. Maybe that was answer enough.

And it was.

Earl heard the grin in his voice and could exactly tell the kind of genuinely happy expression Cecil would have made as he said, “I like you too, Earl Harlan.”

Surprised, and wanting to see Cecil’s expression, Earl finally raised his head. He wasn’t disappointed. Then slowly then all at once Cecil’s lips were on his and it felt exciting but comfortable and foreign but natural all at the same time.

At first it was an innocent, summer-days kind of love.

* * *

 

Slowly but steadily it turned into an eager, blind kind of love.

Earl was with Cecil almost all the time, except for the isolated self-reflection hours that the council mandated for minors. They became closer than ever before, and people definitely noticed at school and at the camp.

It took them around a year to figure out the new developments. Cecil didn’t tell anybody about it. It wasn’t that he didn’t want people finding out, but he just wasn’t the type to go around gushing about his personal life. He still talked plenty, but it was mostly about ideas and future plans and sometimes news around Night Vale. Earl appreciated that he didn’t go around advertising everything and telling the whole town about their relationship. Cecil, _his_ Cecil, was so perfect in that way.

When people slowly realized, Earl felt a strange sense of pride and satisfaction. He and Cecil had the ideal love story, the kind other kids only see in theaters. They were completely absorbed in each other’s presence. They’ve had perfect, romantic moments like kissing in the rain, watching the sun set, and crouching under a table huddled together hoping the furniture stacked in front of the door was enough to keep them safe for street cleaning day.

Sometimes, a lazy conversation on Cecil’s bed would turn into kissing and leave both of them panting and wanting more. Sometimes, they did have more.

When they were apart, Earl couldn’t stop thinking about Cecil and how much he missed him. Cecil’s firm hands caressing his cheek, or his soft lips on his forehead, or his sweet voice repeating Earl’s name… This was love. This was absolute, flawless, definitive love and Earl just knew it would never end. He couldn’t even bear to bring himself to think about an end of any sort. They were in love and they were invincible.

On a typical Friday night they would sit together talking about everything and nothing. On one specific but indistinguishable night, Cecil asked Earl about what would happen when they were adults and had separate jobs and houses and bloodstone circles.

“Nothing would change,” Earl replied matter-of-factly. “We already have separate houses. And we probably won’t live in separate houses anyway when we grow up.”

“Are you proposing to me?” Cecil teased, leaning in closer.

“I will if you don’t.” Earl blushed, but it wasn’t from embarrassment.

“You’d be a great husband. Wouldn’t you? Our life together would be amazing.”

“Perfect. It would be perfect.”

“I like that word. _Perfect,_ ” the words rolled off Cecil’s tongue.

“You. Beautiful, perfect Cecil.” Earl gave him a light kiss.

“Would you still do that when we’re married?”

“Every day before you leave for work and every night when you come home.”

“Then maybe I would take you out to Gino’s for dinner,”

“Isn’t that place really fancy?”

“Yeah. I heard you won’t even remember being seated in the doorless room. It’s the full dining experience.”

“I’ll be looking forward to that day.” Earl leaned in for a deeper kiss and the rest of the night went more or less the same way as almost all their nights together went these days.

Cecil had begun interning at the Night Vale Community Radio station and sometimes worked for long hours or was sent to investigate some event and didn’t return for days. But Earl knew Cecil would always be back safe and sound, if not for Earl then for Night Vale. Their time together grew scarcer but it made them love each other all the more, if that was even possible.

Time passed too fast or maybe the days grew shorter, literally, but soon they found themselves graduating high school. Cecil was promised a job as a host at NVCR as soon as he finished his college education and Earl became a Scoutmaster for Boy Scouts of America, which was a full-time commitment. It was around this time when Cecil went away for longer periods at a time for his now-paid internship, usually into places people don’t go to or that haven’t existed in anybody’s memories before. But he always returned to Earl and everything was roughly the same, except for moments when Cecil seemed… somewhat unnerved. Still, Cecil returned to his normal self quickly and Earl decided if he had something to tell him, Cecil would have done so already. Earl didn’t worry. He just liked being with Cecil and he trusted him.

It was an eager, blind kind of love.

* * *

 

Sometimes at first then more often, it was a wary, in-each-other’s-head kind of love.

In the dark one Monday night, Earl had been dozing off against Cecil’s warm chest listening to the sound of his breathing. Then a whisper pulled him out of it.

“Earl. Do you think mountains are real?”

“Of course not. Go to sleep.” Earl mumbled.

“I heard some people saying that there’s a mountain just a few hour’s drive from here. We should go see it.”

“Who said that?”

“Just some townsfolk. You know. The typical ones.”

“Okay, good for them.” Earl sighed and he was just about to drift off again when—

“Earl, I wrote you a letter.”

“Oh?”

“It just says two words on it. _I Love_. I was going to write ‘You’ but I heard the secret policemen gathering around my house to see if I had a pen so I had to hide it.”

“You had a _what_?”

“A pen.”

“And where did you get that? Cecil, you should turn it in immediately. It’s not safe to go against the City Council’s rulings.”

“I don’t want to,” Cecil mumbled and it was the first time Earl heard him so petulant. “Why shouldn’t we be allowed to use pens? It works so much better than the cocktail straw non-writing utensils we use.”

Earl inwardly grumbled a little, his sleep completely gotten away from him. “Cecil. A law is a law.”

He just sighed. “Yeah. Only in Night Vale though. I wonder what other towns might think? Do they live differently from us?”

“I guess. Every town’s different.”

“I want to go travel one day. Visit other towns.”

“You mean like Desert Bluffs?”

“Are you _kidding_? I wouldn’t go there even if it was necessary for our bi-centennial sacrifices. I was thinking more on the lines of Europe. Everyone wants to go to Europe.”

“Sounds good, Cecil.” Earl shifted a little on the bed to get more comfortable. Maybe now he could get some shut-eye.

“Why do I have to be a radio host?”

“What are you talking about? You love the radio.” Earl sighed exasperatedly.

“Yeah. I do. I love it. I’ve always loved it. But maybe I can do something else too? Like maybe visit different towns every now and then—“

“You really want to travel that badly?”

“It’s just I’ve been thinking more and more lately about what’s outside Night Vale. Imagine, going to strange new places and learning their way of life. Or maybe I could not even leave Night Vale and just learn other things. Like studying the night sky.”

“You mean the void?”

“Astronomy. That’s what they called it.”

“That’s what who called it?”

“The same people that told me about the mountains.”

“Cecil, please just tell me, who are these people?”

 

[---This is where the work ends. Thank you for reading. To be continued?---]


End file.
